Hello, my lovely readers. It's been a long and crazed road. I do hope you enjoyed the ride. On with show…

Prologue: So You Were Pulling the Strings the Whole Time

Five Years Later:

A small handprint was one of the pieces of art at the law offices of Marshall & Mikaelson. You would see it if you came into their offices. It was displayed behind the large desk that the two lawyers sat behind when consulting with their clients. Sometimes one of them would be out. And the other one would be the sole lawyer to meet with a client. But they enjoyed sharing cases, arguing about which one should be first-chair in the same manner they argued about what to name their child. In the end it was up to a coin toss.

"I think you should have gone with Kol. It's a good, solid name," Kol said, examining another piece of art. "And I can't believe you would display that awful thing here!" he snorted and shook his head at the photo.

"I thought you liked it," Hayley retorted.

Kol shook his head. "He caught me at a bad angle," Kol retorted, hands clasped behind him, emulating his brother, Klaus,' stance. "He thinks himself an artist. I've seen better art in my bathroom."

"Hey!" Davina Claire called as she entered the office with great care.

"I thought you weren't up for coming into the office!" Kol cried. He hurried over to attend to his fiancée.

Davina eased down into a chair. "I'm pregnant. Not dying. Not anymore, anyway." She rolled her eyes and placed her hands over her belly and smiled at Hayley. "Oh! Is that –"

"Don't you dare say a word! It's hideous!" Kol complained, trying to remove the photo from the wall.

Davina rolled her eyes. "This is not about you, Mikaelson. This is about that." She waved a hand at the handprint behind Hayley.

"Oh, that." Kol rolled his eyes. "Enough of this. We have a breakfast to attend. Shall we?" He helped Davina back up and Hayley followed them out with a smile. She locked the door and then went out with Kol and Davina.

In the lobby, Elijah was talking to his sister, Freya. "Hey there, stranger," Hayley called, coming to press a kiss to his lips. "I thought you were taking the day off."

"I am." Elijah nodded. After the case sending Davina's doctor to jail for purposefully misdiagnosing patients so he could prescribe treatments and get kickbacks, Elijah said. He needed a week's vacation. It also meant he could spend time with their four-year-old.

Hayley didn't argue with him. She would take a vacation at the end of the year, but after her success with Marcel's trial, her phone rang every single day so many times she had to hire a secretary to field her calls. Good thing Aurora decided to walk away from Mikaelson and Gerard, too. Although they were re-branding with Marcel becoming the Gerard, there was still one hell of a road to go down.

The group left the lobby and went out to Elijah's car. "No, Elijah is not driving! Let me!" Kol cried.

"No!" the women shouted. "You drive like a maniac!" Davina told him.

Freya laughed. "You should have seen him in high school. Father threatened to take his driver's license away or to lock him in the basement until he was old enough and rich enough to hire a driver."

Shaking her head, Hayley got into the passenger seat. She glanced at Elijah who did not look much happier than he had the year after the trial that changed their lives. She would still find him in his study looking through a box filled with pictures of Nadia, little trinkets she made and Hayley would feel her stomach knot. She knew how much he missed his daughter and had been secretly trying to track the girl down, with little success, so far.

~0~

"Hello!" Esther Mikaelson greeted them as she opened the door. The house seemed quiet until the sound of a child's footsteps came flying down the hallway. A girl of eight with long, blonde curls in pigtails came running toward them.

"Aunt Hayley!" Fiona cried, running to throw her arms around Hayley's waist. "Mom and Dad are in the living room."

"They are. Well, let's go see them." Hayley allowed Fiona to drag her down the hallway.

"Hey, Hales," Caroline said, rocking her one-year-old son in her arms. "He's been fussy all morning. Just like his daddy." She cooed to the boy who gurgled back at her.

"He smells sometimes," Fiona confessed to Hayley with an eye roll.

"They all do," Kol said, coming in.

"Yours will," Klaus shot back.

"Klaus!" Caroline cried.

Klaus grinned and sat back on the couch. "Sorry, love." He did not seem sorry.

Elijah came in behind Hayley. "Where is Henry?" he asked.

"Upstairs. He's helping his grandfather build a sailboat," Esther told them.

"Really?" Elijah looked confused and glanced at Hayley.

Hayley shrugged. Together, they went upstairs and down the hallway. In Mikael's study, the grandfather and grandson sat. Mikael looked a little older and a little less imposing than the day Hayley met him as he directed his grandson to attach the mast to the model sailboat.

"Mommy!" Henry cried, losing focus and nearly attaching the mast to the bottom of the boat.

Chuckling, Mikael eased the mast back toward the proper location. "Easy, there, mate."

"Sorry, Grandpa," Henry offered Mikael a big grin before he slid his feet to the floor and came running toward his mother. Hayley scooped him up and he nestled his head into her shoulder. "Look, Mommy, we made a boat!" he proclaimed with glee.

"It looks great, sweetie," Hayley replied.

"Father," Elijah nodded at Mikael who pushed himself up and then grabbed his wooden cane. After the stabbing, Mikael had some agility issues, but other than that, he seemed to be fine.

"Elijah. How good of you to join us," Mikael replied.

Hayley had decided it was important for Henry to know the rest of his family, even if they didn't all get along. Elijah tended to come to these breakfasts once a month.

"Yes." Elijah nodded. "Shall we?" He held out an arm and Hayley set Henry down, took Elijah's arm and allowed him to escort her out.

Downstairs, there seemed to be more Mikaelsons coming in the door. Finn and Sage came in with their children. They were joined by Marcel and Rebekah. Rebekah seemed less nervous than she had her first year at Mikaelson and Gerard. Perhaps it involved being married to one of her bosses. Her diamond ring could be seen from a mile away. Or at least that's what Hayley and Caroline liked to joke.

Marcel had ditched his power suit for the day and wore a pair of jeans and a fitted T. Although there was something different about him. Hayley hoped that helping to run M and G was not turning him into one of those guys she'd never hang out with.

Eyes moving around the living room, Marcel spotted Hayley and a huge grin appeared on his face. "Hales!" he called out. He held out his arms and she crossed the room. He picked her up and she could feel her feet swinging around as he hugged her tight. "Missed you," he whispered in her ear.

"I missed you, too," Hayley replied. "We need to find more time to hang out."

"I know. Have your secretary call mine," Marcel said. Hayley stared back at him until he began to laugh. "Kidding. Just give me a call. You know I'll always make room for you."

"When he isn't too busy tearing into the world," Rebekah added. Her eyes went to the door. "Where is Jax?" Her brows furrowed. "Damn it," she muttered. She hurried out the door before she came in with a four-year-old girl who seemed so painfully shy. Jaqueline Gerard. Marcel's little sister.

After Celeste gave birth, she called Marcel. He'd gone to the prison where she'd been sent to serve out her twenty-five year sentence. Hayley did not believe that twenty-five years was enough given that she almost got an innocent person sent in her place. However, Hayley had not been on the jury. Lucky, Celeste.

During their meeting Celeste asked Marcel to adopt her baby daughter. She had two conditions. One: she got to name the baby. Two: the baby would have a right to be part of the Gerard fortune. Marcel agreed to both terms so long as the adoption would never be challenged. Celeste agreed.

Jax stared at the rest of the Mikaelsons before burying her face in Rebekah's A-line skirt. "Mama," she could be heard muttering into Rebekah's skirt. "I don't like it here."

"Oh, honey," Rebekah replied. "There will be strawberries."

"O-kay." Jax did not seemed all that relieved. Hayley wondered if the child could feel how much the family disliked her mother. Making a mental note to stop associating a child with her mother; she took her child into the dining room.

There was a fuss as the children were sat in their booster chairs and high chairs. Fiona claimed a seat between her parents and seemed quite pleased with herself when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Fiona shouted, jumping to her feet.

"Fi!" Caroline looked startled. She looked at Klaus who had already gotten to his feet.

A couple of minutes later, a girl of thirteen came into the room. Her dark brown hair fell in curls around her face and it was only when Hayley saw the child's eyes that she knew.

"Daddy!" Nadia cried, bursting into tears. There was a light accent to her words. Something from the Balkans. Elijah stood up and Nadia ran to him. "Daddy!" she cried, burying her face in his shirt. Her thin arms went around his waist. "I hoped I would see you, again, one day, but I never thought I would!"

"Does your mother know you are here?" Elijah asked. Nadia looked up at him and Hayley thought she knew the answer to that one. "Do you have a number for her?" Nadia shook her head.

"Wonderful," Elijah muttered.

"We're just sitting down for breakfast, Nadia, would you like to join us?" Esther asked.

Nadia's eyes lit up. "I am famished. The plane food was gross." She looked around the room for a seat.

"Come, sit with me!" Fiona cried, taking Nadia's hand and dragging her over to sit beside her. "You're Nadia? I thought they lost you. Or did someone take you away? I always get confused."

"My mother took me to Bulgaria," Nadia said, taking a strawberry. "She met a nice man. We have a nice house. But I miss my old family. I like it here better."

"Cool." Fiona said.

Hayley caught Mikael watching with something akin to pleasure and she wondered if he'd been the one to bring Nadia back into the Mikaelson fold. He didn't say anything.

~0~

When breakfast was over, Rebekah brought up the book that Marcel had written about his trial. "He's sold over a million copies," she said with a smile.

"Great," Klaus said. "Then he can take us on a family vacation somewhere warm."

"Ha-ha," Marcel rolled his eyes. "There are still things that bother me about that case. Things that don't all fit together."

"Sometimes it's better to let ghosts stay buried," Mikael said, picking up a Mimosa and heading out of the room.

Hayley frowned and she patted Elijah on the hand. "I want to talk to you dad," she said quietly.

"Right." Elijah got up. "Klaus, keep an eye on Henry for me?"

Klaus rolled his eyes. "I already have two of my own."

Hayley and Elijah left the room and went upstairs. They found Mikael back in his study. "Mikael…" Hayley slipped inside the room and Elijah closed the doors as Hayley moved to take a seat across from her former boss. "There's something about that old case… When you got stabbed… It's like whoever stabbed you didn't intend on killing you…"

Mikael nodded. He took a sip of his mimosa. "They did not."

"Father?" Elijah came to sit down next to Hayley. "Did you have something to do with…"

Mikael inclined his head to the side. "Gerard was a fool. And did you really think I would allow what he did to Rebekah to slide?" A cold smirk appeared on Mikael's lips. "As I told you once before: I do what I do to protect my family."

"Did you…" Hayley could not bring herself to ask the question.

Mikaelson still looked amused. "If you want to know if I had anything to do with the death of my old partner, well, you already know I knew who did it… If you're asking if I have a hand in setting up the board on which the players enacted their folly?" He shrugged. "Marcel took his rightful place. Rebekah will take hers soon."

"Rebekah?" Elijah looked surprised.

"I chose her to succeed me since my original plans were altered. She has proven herself equal to the task. And she will be both: Mikaelson and Gerard." A wide smile appeared on Mikael's face. "Any other questions, Counsel, or shall I enjoy my drink in peace?"

"Nope. We're all good," Hayley said, patting Elijah's arm. She could see him formulating a question that would lead them down a road they did not need to be on. "Come on. Let's check on the kids," she said.

Going downstairs, Hayley and Elijah watched the children chasing each other around the living room. Even Jax had been dragged into the fun by Nadia. They all seemed so young and happy and innocent. Hayley glanced up at Elijah. In the end, she felt it was worth it. They protected their own.

The End

Thank you for taking the time to read, fav, follow and review.

Peace,

-J